Oil Rivers Protectorate Named and Macdonald's Special Commission

In 1889, the territory proclaimed in 1885 as the 'Niger Districts' was formally named the Oil Rivers Protectorate. That same year Sir Claude Macdonald was sent out as a special commissioner to determine the political future of the peoples of the Niger Coast Protectorate — specifically whether they would be administered by the Royal Niger Company or some other company, or brought under direct crown administration. Macdonald's handling of these enquiries endeared him to the coastal peoples and chiefs, who came to look upon him as a man they could trust.